Linguistic Signs and Language Communication Levels

The Linguistic Sign and Communication

The linguistic sign represents the unity of the linguistic system. It consists of two parts:

• 1. Signifier: The acoustic image or succession of articulated sounds that brings to mind an image.
• 2. Meaning: The concept referred to by the signifier.

The sign is the unit of communication. A sign is a stimulus that is perceived by the senses and evokes a reality that has some meaning for us.

Levels of Language Usage

The Cultivated Level

The cultivated level is characterized by the use of a developed and normative code. Its main features include:

1. The employment of reflective and thoughtful language.
2. Correct syntactic structures throughout.
3. Accurate lexicon, appropriate to the type of discourse, and varied.
4. Greater creativity and originality in style.

The Colloquial or Familiar Level

The colloquial or familiar level features the use of a restricted code; that is, the vocabulary and expressions of the common language used by all speakers in a community. This is linked to oral expression.

• 1. Use of a short, improvised lexicon.
• 2. Sentences that are more limited than in cultivated speech and sometimes imprecise.
• 3. Abundance of set phrases, proverbs, colloquialisms, and placeholder words.
• 5. Predominance of emotional content over logic.
• 6. Predominance of expressive, appellative, and phatic functions.
• 7. Superposition of several codes for the receiver.
• 8. Numerous interrogative expressions.

Functions of Language

Denotative or Representational Function

The denotative or representational function dominates in messages with objective intent, presenting a matter while avoiding the assessment of objective data that can be verified by the emitter.

• 1. Predominance of adjectives that specify the character of the noun.
• 2. Use of scientific and technical terms which, due to their monosemic condition, are unambiguous.

Emotive or Expressive Function

The emotive or expressive function dominates messages that reveal the subjectivity of the issuer.

• 1. Presence of adjectives or additions to the noun that are explanatory or evaluative.
• 2. Use of pronouns and verb forms in the 1st and 2nd person.
• 4. Expressions that convey value judgments.

Linguistic Norms and Systems

The Phonic Level: Phonetics and Phonology

This level studies the phonemes of a language, their sounds, and combinations.

1. The sound is the phonetic unit. It is defined as the realization of the phoneme at the level of speech. The sound is concrete and varies from one issuer to another; it is shown between brackets [ ].
2. The phoneme is the phonological unit. It is defined as the ideal model of sound in the background of the language. It has the capacity to differentiate between meanings and is represented between slashes / /.
3. Graphemes or letters represent the phonemes in written language. As there are more phonemes than spellings, a mismatch exists.

The Morphosyntactic and Lexical-Semantic Levels

The morphosyntactic or grammatical level is responsible for the grammatical category of words and the relationships between phrases and sentences.

The lexical-semantic level belongs to the vocabulary set of a language, based on the formation of words, the relations between them, and the meanings acquired in each communicative situation.